Bridesmaid Has No Regrets Getting Engaged at Another Woman’s Wedding: 'It Just Meant So Much to Me'

It's controversial to get engaged at another couple's wedding. But one woman who did just that says she has no regrets.

At a wedding reception in Myrtle Beach last fall, bridesmaid Brittany Brink, 31, was suddenly forced to participate in the bouquet toss. Despite being in a relationship with the bride's brother, Brink was told to stand alongside the eagerly awaiting single women on the dance floor.

“I’m like, really? I was almost annoyed. I’m already taken," Brink told Today. "I don't need to come out for the bouquet toss."

The bride, Victoria "Tori" Krause, never intended on having a traditional bouquet toss. As seen in a Facebook video of the surprise moment, the crowd of women excitedly stretched their hands in the air as the master of ceremonies counted to three. But instead of throwing the flowers over her head into the crowd, Krause turned around and handed them to Brink.

Brink’s boyfriend of eight years, Rich Ciallella, suddenly stepped onto the dance floor. As Ciallella got down on one knee with their 2-year-old son Carter on his lap and pulled out a ring, everyone began to clap and scream in excitement, with some shocked bridesmaids even covering their agape mouths.

Upon realizing what was happening, Brink began “hysterically crying.”

“Immediately, I go, 'Why would you do this on your sister’s wedding day? Why would you do this?' " Brink questioned Ciallella.

Brink's then-boyfriend revealed that his sister was actually "the one who wanted this to happen and be so special."

Earlier that year, Ciallella and Brink had gone ring shopping together, so the two were on the same page about getting married soon. But the groom-to-be didn't know how he was going to pop the question until his sister gave him the idea.

The siblings spent months brainstorming potential proposal plans. Then, the spring before her wedding, Krause saw a TikTok video of a wedding proposal. Thinking it was perfect, she persuaded her brother out of his original idea of proposing on Mother's Day into doing so at her wedding.

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“I told her, ‘I didn’t want this,' " Brink recalled telling Krause, who tearfully responded, " 'I really wanted you to have this moment. I really wanted your aunt to be here for this proposal, because I know that you can’t have your parents here.' "

Brink’s parents died within two months of each other in 2022.

Her soon-to-be mother-in-law says she's like a "daughter" to her.

" 'You always have been,' " she told the bride-to-be at the wedding. " 'I’m not your mom. I’m not trying to replace her, but I want to do anything I can to make this special for you.' "

Brink continued: “It was just so sweet. It was really our moment. Tori was just standing there dancing, just so happy that she was able to be a part of this whole thing and pull this off. It just meant so much to me."

Some people online were unsupportive of Brink's engagement at her future sister-in-law's wedding. They argued that wedding proposals steal the spotlight from the newlyweds.

"I understand why people say it’s controversial," Brink told Today of the backlash. "When I got engaged, I felt like, that’s the bride’s moment. But in my story, Tori was really behind this and wanted this for me."

Brink, who is tying the knot in October, said that as long as the wedding proposal isn't a surprise to the couple getting married, it shouldn't be an issue.

“If the bride’s okay with it, if everyone is okay with it, let them have their moment," she said.

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